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. The 13th Warrior, after a film with Antonio Banderis which I liked alot, is a PC who is really odd for the setting. A fish far out of water. However, as he explained his point, I thought up an Arab Player Character for a Viking game that would be fun and useful to the group.
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The problem with this analysis is the Arab wasn’t out of place in the party.
He was culturally different, but his skill set meshed perfectly with everyone else.
In D&D terms he was the sage... replacement for wizard in a no-manna game.
Once he learned the language there were few problems, and his cultural point of view and education are the only thing the Vikings lacked.
The “13th warrior” article posits a character who disrupts the party... Ahmad ibn Fadlan does the opposite.
As an aside, Arabs wouldn’t have been unknown to Northmen, and vice versa. The two cultures encountered each other around the Black Sea... with is more or less where the 13th warrior takes place.